The present invention relates, in general, to three-dimensional display devices, and more particularly to an optical system for providing visual displays of information in three dimensions.
The need for an effective, reliable, easy to use, three-dimensional optical display of information has long been recognized. Such displays are of particular value in air traffic control, where a visible display of aircraft location in three dimensions is of great assistance in directing traffic around airport locations. Other significant applications of such displays exist within the fields of education, art, mathematics, physics, chemistry, structural design, and the like. Although two-dimensional representations of images, such as may be provided in cathode ray tube graphical displays, have been greatly improved, such displays are not totally satisfactory, and accordingly the production of true three-dimensional displays has been the focus of much attention and technical innovation in recent years.
A true three-dimensional display profoundly improves the representations which have been available through two-dimensional imaging, for a true three-dimensional image occupies a fixed three-dimensional space or region and allows the viewer to actually move around the representation to obtain perspectives of the displayed image. This enables the viewer to develop his understanding of the displayed material in a manner compatible with his own sense of position, direction, proportion, and perspective. Accordingly, the development of apparatus for producing a true three-dimensional image has been highly desired and has long been sought, but effective solutions have not been found.
Devices such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,749,480 to Ruderfer and 3,636,551 to McGuire are typical of the approaches that have been taken in the prior art, with each providing individual lamps scattered through a three-dimensional region and interconnected by a matrix of wires so that individual lamps may be illuminated by suitable switching. Such devices require complex wiring harnesses located within the region of the display, thus significantly reducing the transparency of the region and interfering with the light pattern. Furthermore, since the lamps utilized in these devices are relatively large and bulky, they are themselves a cause of severe interference and distortion, and do not provide the effective point sources of illumination that are required for detailed, accurate displays. Further, even the smallest lamps require relatively thick wires for support, as well as for the supply of electric current, and the transparency of the display region is adversely affected. Thus, there has been a long standing need for an effective optical display system which would enable a user to provide true three-dimensional illustrations of patterns, designs, forms, graphs, and the like to provide a true visual reproduction of an image.